ASHLAND (UPDATED AT 8 PM) – Attorneys for accused serial killer Shawn Grate have filed four motions seeking an independent competency evaluation and a trial date more than a year away has been set in the case.
During a scheduling conference that took place Monday morning by video conference, Grate’s trial was scheduled for Nov. 6, 2017.
Also Monday, the Richland County Sheriff’s Office announced a press conference has been scheduled at 10 a.m. Tuesday to discuss the autopsy findings on a body that was found in Madison Township and is linked to Grate.
One motion filed by Grate’s attorneys Robert and Rolf Whitney asked Ashland County Common Pleas Judge Ronald Forsthoefel to order the completion of an independent competency evaluation to determine if Grate is fit to stand trial.
A second motion asks to court to approve spending up to $10,000 to hire Dr. John Fabian to conduct an evaluation of Grate, including a not guilty by reason of insanity evaluation. The attorneys indicated in the filing that the amount could be more if the case goes to trial.
A third related motion asks the court to give Dr. Fabian “unrestricted contact” with Grate at the Ashland County Jail.
The final motion asks the court to authorize a specialist be hired in case a mitigation hearing takes place in future court proceedings.
“An integral duty of counsel representing capital defendants is not only to investigate all aspects of the crime, but also to thoroughly investigate all avenues of mitigation,” the defense attorneys wrote in the motion.
Judge Forsthoefel, in a judgment entry filed Monday morning, ruled that the state has 14 days to respond to the defense attorneys’ motions. If a hearing is needed on those motions, they will be scheduled at a later date, Forsthoefel wrote in his judgment entry.
Grate’s case will be featured Tuesday on “The Dr. Oz Show.” According to a press release from the show, correspondent Melissa Moore Jesperson will discuss the case and talk with one of Grate’s ex-girlfriends, Christina Hildreth, as part of the show’s True Crime Tuesdays.
Grate was arrested Sept. 13 after a woman called 911 and said she was being held against her will in a home near East Fourth Street in Ashland. Upon their arrival, police found the woman and Grate. The woman is not being identified because she is a sexual assault victim and the Ashland County Prosecutor does not identify victims of sexual assault.
Grate was taken into custody and police and BCI investigators searched the two homes on Covert Court, near the Fourth Street Laundromat. Two bodies were discovered in one of the homes. The victims were identified as 43-year-old Stanley of Greenwich and 29-year old Griffith of Ashland.
Grate was indicted on a total of 23 counts including four counts of aggravated murder, four counts of kidnapping, two counts of gross abuse of a corpse, four counts of rape, four counts of burglary, and one count each of tampering with evidence, aggravate robbery, unauthorized use of a vehicle, robbery and breaking and entering. He is being held in Ashland County Jail on $1 million bond.
Grate pleaded not guilty to all 23 counts but also admitted to the killings in several interviews with Cleveland news stations before a gag order was imposed on all parties involved in the case.
Grate has also been tied to three other victims. After his arrest, Grate led investigators to a body in a wooded area near a burned-out home on Park Avenue East in Madison Township. Authorities have not yet identified the victim. A press conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday regarding the autopsy results on the body.
Mansfield Police also have re-opened the investigation into the death of Mansfield resident Rebekah Leicy. Leicy was reported missing in February of 2015 and her body was found in rural Ashland County in March 2015. Her death was ruled as a probable drug overdose by the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office as there were no signs of physical trauma.
Grate has also been tied to a 2005 murder in Marion County. He reportedly admitted to authorities that he killed a woman there in 2005. On March 10, 2007, Marion County authorities discovered the remains of a woman who has never been identified. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office released a new sketch of the woman last month in a renewed effort to identify her.
